


A Charles-Sized Problem

by sebastian2017



Series: Jewish Fics [3]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Hanukkah, M/M, but erik loves him just like that, charles is a bit grumpy because hes short, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 02:17:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13021143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Charles does not, in the slightest, appreciate how Erik's growth spurt leaves him towering above him. He appreciates even less the way all their friends constantly remind him of it.





	A Charles-Sized Problem

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Paramecie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paramecie/gifts).



> paramecie, this isnt exactly what you requested, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!! :) 
> 
>  
> 
> CW: food

Charles has some unfortunate genes. That’s what he would tell to anyone who’d listen to his whining. So what if he inherited his father’s smarts or if he has those envious baby blues or if his hair flops just the right way. That’s irrelevant in light of what is his biggest issue, all five feet seven inches of it. He inherited his maternal family’s height, unfortunately, so instead of tall and charming and handsome like his father, he’s nerdy and short and in that danger zone where a bit of extra dessert will leave him awfully stocky. Honestly, he thinks it wouldn’t even be that sad, if it weren’t for Erik, his boyfriend and a constant presence at his side. 

 

Erik is, unfortunately, a giant freak of nature. Really, Charles thinks he must be at least six and a half feet tall or something. Everyone else has told him that no, Erik is a perfectly reasonable height, it’s only that Charles is short, but Charles thinks it’s all part of a larger conspiracy against him. Clearly. What other explanation is there, really? It’s either that, or there’s some secret ‘Get Tall Quick’ formula everyone has been holding hostage from him. Simply admitting that he’s just a tad bit short? Well that’s simply not an option. 

 

If he were way more childish or a few years younger, he’d probably put it on his with list for Santa Claus. ‘ _ Dear Santa, I’ve been a very good boy his year. Please give me a few extra inches for Christmas. Thank you very much. With love, Charles.’  _ Not that he does much Christmas celebrating these days. He’s been practically living in Erik’s room since seventh grade, more so since they’d started dating halfway through freshman year. At this rate, Charles probably has a better idea how to celebrate Hanukkah than he does Christmas. And unfortunately, there is no Hanukkah fairy that can help him with this particular predicament. 

 

It probably wouldn’t be bothering him so much if Erik hadn’t hit some crazy growth spurt this last semester and left Charles feeling frustratingly small. He does a ridiculous amount of pouting about it these days. To be fair, he’s grumbling about it more often than not. Even now, while he gathers up his books to go home for the day, he’s a little surly as he sees how easily Erik can reach the top shelf of his locker. Erik glances towards him when Charles lets out an entirely too dramatic sigh, and doesn’t look all too surprised to see the put off way Charles’ brow is scrunched up. 

 

“What’s wrong, Liebling? What’s got you all grumpy?” Erik asked, petting Charles’ hair gently. 

 

In return, Charles grumbles and shakes off Erik’s hand. “I just don’t appreciate all the reminders of how you’re seven feet tall now. You like to rub it in my face. I know it. I see it! Why can’t you get your books on your tippy toes like the rest of us? Just admit it, Erik. Admit you love my suffering.” 

 

Erik laughs, like he always does. “We’ve been through this. Six feet is nothing at all like seven feet. And it’s a perfectly normal height to be, so you can stop looking at me like I’m the Jolly Green Giant.” 

 

“It’s not a normal height to be when you just woke up a giant one day! It’s not natural,” he complains. 

 

“It wasn’t one day to the next. Don’t be dramatic. It was a few months. Last I heard, that’s a common occurrence among sixteen year old boys,” Erik teases. “Some weird thing called puberty?” 

 

“Oh shut up,” Charles grumbles. It’s quite the unfortunate thing when Erik manages to get all sassy in his replies back to him. Even more unfortunate that it makes up the vast majority of their conversations. 

 

Erik grins. He leans down to press a brief kiss to Charles’ forehead. “No need to get worked up about it, babe. You’re not that short.” 

 

“Yes, he is,” Raven interrupts, coming along and wedging herself between the two boys for no reason but to annoy them a bit. It works. Charles is thoroughly annoyed. 

 

“You’re not helping, Raven,” Erik says, chuckling. 

 

She shrugs. “I’m not trying to! Only the truth. Now, I came for an actual important reason, not to talk about Charles. Erik, your parent’s Hanukkah party is still on tonight, right? Because I’ve been dreaming of Edie’s latkes all week.” 

 

“It is, but you’re not invited, because there’s no latkes for mean people. Sorry, try again next year,” Charles said, sticking his tongue out at her. 

 

Raven scoffed. “It’s not your party, Charles, so I’m afraid that’s not your decision to make.” 

 

“He does practically live at my place, so I dunno, I think maybe he does have some sort of input in the guest list,” Erik says, barely hiding his smirk as he closed his locker once more and grabbed his book bag off the floor. 

 

“Oh, shut up.Who would you make snide remarks with if I wasn’t there?” Raven reminds him. “So can I get a ride or not?” 

 

“Yeah, sure. But Charles already called shotgun, so you’re stuck in the back.” With that, Erik puts his backpack on and grabs Charles’ hand so they can head out to his car. “And fair warning, anyone within a twenty feet radius of the kitchen before the party starts is subjected to helping with the cooking. So get ready to earn your keep and squeeze some potatoes.” 

 

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be on a Tuesday than getting fed and coddled by your mom, Lehnsherr,” Raven promises, walking ahead of them towards the parking lot. 

 

“There’s no way she’s going to actually do any work,” Charles mumbles, reaching to grab Erik’s hand as they walk. 

 

Erik laughs. “I know. Don’t worry, Mama’s very persuasive.” 

  
  


\------

  
  


A few hours later, there’s a whole group of them rounded up in the kitchen to help Edie with the last of the cooking before they do the candle lighting. There’s Erik, Charles and Raven helping out, of course, but now they’re also joined by Alex and Hank and Azazel and Janos. Sean has been put on decorating duty out in the living room, mostly to keep him away from the hot oil in the kitchen. It’s a lot of hands to be helping, but Edie can find a job for anyone in this production. She’s invited most of the families in their shul and a couple hundred latkes is much easier to make with a small army of sous chefs at her disposal. And certainly, it’d gone by a lot smoother and now, a few minutes before their scheduled candle lighting, there’s only the matter of a few finishing touches before the food can be declared finished. 

 

“Charles, Schatzi, will you fetch me another pot of apple sauce? It’s on that top shelf behind you,” Edie requests, gesturing towards the cabinet. 

 

Before Charles can agree, Azazel teleports to right behind him and grabs the apple sauce for him. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Lehnsherr, I’ve got it. Charles here wouldn’t have been able to reach all the way up there!” 

 

“Hey!” Charles scowls a bit. Raven laughs and Charles can feel a bit of pride at the edges of Azazel’s mind. It doesn’t take much for him to jump to the conclusion that Raven’s probably mentioned that she was bugging him about his height earlier and now they’ve all jumped on the train. Great. 

 

“Be nice, young man,” Edie scolds, taking the apple sauce from him and scooping it out onto dipping trays. “Not his fault he grew up away from matzo ball soup! That’s the secret recipe that makes all the Lehnsherr men big and strong.” 

 

“You know, Mama, I really have a feeling it’s got a bit more to do with genetics,” Erik says, looking to Charles and shooting him an encouraging smile. 

 

“Sure, sure, but the soup doesn’t hurt!” Edie insists. “All right, let’s get all this food into the living room and start this party!” 

 

It takes a few trips to move all the trays, but soon enough the food is all set up in the living room, the candles are lit, and there’s music playing in the background as everyone mingles around the living room. Charles is off in a corner with Erik and the rest of their group of friends. They’ve all got wine in cheap plastic cups, which Edie and Jakob are both pretending not to see. It’s all good fun and Charles is very willing to forget all about the couple of digs at his height from earlier. But unfortunately, it seems Raven had recruited their friends to be especially annoying tonight. 

 

“Say, Erik,” Alex starts, looking around the living room, “do you and your family not have a tree because Charles can’t reach far enough to help decorate it?” 

 

Erik winds an arm around Charles’ shoulders while he stares at Alex, entirely unamused. “It’s because I’m Jewish, you dumb fuck.” 

 

“Careful, Summers, you’re riling him up. Nothing gets Erik more feisty than protecting his little guy,” Azazel snickers, teleporting a few feet away when Erik tries to reach over to knock his wine onto him. 

 

“I think it’s kind of cute!” Sean says, laughing. “You know, it’s sort of like when you have a little Corgi dog that’s friends with a big Great Dane. Adorable.” 

 

“Piss off,” Charles grumbles, sipping his wine as aggressively as anyone can sip out of a solo cup. 

 

“Yeah, piss off. It’s not too late for me to kick you off the guest list,” Erik threatens. 

 

“Fine, fine, we’ll lay off. No need to get rowdy, lover boy. Just drink your Manischewitz and let us live in peace,” Raven says, shaking her head. 

 

Hank hops in, looking a bit awkward at all the bickering going on around him. “Why don’t we, uh, why don’t we play some dreidel? Mrs. Lehnsherr left us a box of gelt to bet with.” 

 

Thankfully, there’s agreement between the group and they settle around the coffee table to play a few heated rounds of dreidel. (And if they also add a bit of a drinking game spin to it, well what do you expect from a group of teenagers?) Between dreidel and gelt, wine and latkes, the group of them is thoroughly occupied for the rest of the evening. Occupied enough that they don’t pick on Charles and his shortness anymore. Though he’s still a bit peeved by it. Later in the evening, when everyone’s gone home and Charles is helping to clean up a bit, it’s still on his mind. Erik looks at him oddly, but says nothing of his pout. 

 

After everything is loaded up into the dish washers and the last of the paper plates around the house is disposed off, Edie pats both boys on the back. In the beginning, she’d at least pretended not to know that Charles stayed the night more often than not and turned a blind eye. Now, she’s just openly accepted that she’s practically gained a second son. “All right, you two. Off to bed, it’s getting late and it’s a school night.” 

 

“Sure, Mama,” Erik agrees, grabbing Charles’ hand and leading him upstair without protest. Upstairs, once the door is closed, he pulls Charles up close against him and kisses his head. “Good first night of Hanukkah?”

 

“It’s always good when it’s with you, love,” he promises, greatly resenting the way he needs to get up on tiptoe to kiss him. 

 

“Good.” Erik smiles. “And you’re not thinking about all those jokes Raven spurred on? Because you’re being a bit pouty, you know.” 

 

“I’m…. not thinking about all of that,” Charles lies, entirely unconvincingly. 

 

Erik huffs. “I could beat up Azazel, you know. Since I can’t beat up your sister, but it’d be close enough. They probably wouldn’t do it again if you let me teach them their lesson.” 

 

“Shush, Erik, I don’t want you beating up anyone on my behalf,” he insists. Charles shakes his head. He’s never been one for violence, even in the throes of testosterone fueled teenage nonsense. 

 

“Sure. For what it’s worth…” Erik smiles and rests his chin gently atop Charles’ head. “I think you’re quite the perfect height. You and I slot just right together and I wouldn’t trade it for the world?” 

 

“Really?” he asks. 

 

Erik nods. “Of course, Liebling.” 

 

“...okay. Chag urim sameach, big guy.” 

 

“I love you so much, but your Hebrew pronunciation is as bad as when we first met. But chag urim sameach to you, too, little guy.” 

**Author's Note:**

> for questions, prompts, or chatting I can be found on tumblr at [sebbym17](http://sebbym17.tumblr.com/)


End file.
